Wednesday, September 3, 2014

Concert Review: Kenny Loggins

As you probably know, we get to go to lots of concerts every summer at our local outdoor theater. The one most anticipated for this year was Kenny Loggins. He came last Thursday and it was a blast!

We had awesome seats because I bought the theater's 30th anniversary shirt which, for these big concerts, gets me in about 15 minutes before everyone else. (It also gets me free popcorn. Woot.) We were on the third row up the hill! Perfect!

He opened with his new country band Blue Sky Riders. They were pretty good and quite a lot of fun, but we all just wanted Kenny!

Here's what they sound like if you're interested:

Finally, after a little intermission, he came on and began to sing all the songs we loved from the 80s. I think he started with I'm Alright. And went really quickly to Return to Pooh Corner, but not before he told us the story of how that song came to be. He actually wrote it while still in high school and had someone interested in producing it, but Disney got wind of it and wouldn't let them. He was sad and moping with his girlfriend and when she realized what the problem was, she's all like, "Let me tell Daddy!" Well, I don't know how he didn't know, but her dad was the CEO of Disney and after she made him play the song for her dad, he made it happen. Kenny said he probably figured this crazy kid wasn't going anywhere anyway, so what's the big deal, right? Ha! Great story, eh?

We love this song at our house and my just turned 25 year old son, who was with us, got a little weepy hearing this song live I think. Such a fun song. I taped this one on my phone. The sound is wocky (I thought these new phones could do a better job!) and he had us singing along with him and I sing terrible, so beware! :) But it's fun to see him so, here you go.

Anyway, and so it went from there. At one point, he made it seem like he was done and going, but really, he was only getting started and the crowd got fired up and we were on our feet for the "songs from the movies" including Highway to the Danger Zone and Footloose. So much fun!

When he sang Celebrate Me Home, he came out into the audience and stood pretty much right by me while he just wailed and sang his guts out. It was so cool to be that close to someone who sings like that. He was literally shaking with the effort. But let me also say, he looks so old! However, what gorgeous eyes, oh my word!!

Anyway, then for his finale, he sang Forever and we all did the phone thing and it looked awesome and gave us chills and sigh, then it was over.

Here's a Forever clip from YouTube. You can see what I mean about his eyes! You'll also see the intensity with which he sings. It's amazing.

Well, it will end up for sure in the top five of the most fun concerts I've been too. Probably because the songs have such memories and meaning tied to them for me. You know? I mean, this guy was my era!

4 comments:

Sounds like an awesome concert! I've never seen him live but my mom got a kiss from him at one of the concerts and it's all she can ever talk about 5 years later. Love the Pooh Corner story. He seems to really connect with fans in more ways than just the music.

Wow, what a ride. When an invisible barrier suddenly descends on this small town, how will the people handle things? Let's just say... not very well! Would it be giving away too much if I say... pretty much EVERYONE dies! And all written in...